Still a lot to be done. The EU has said negotiations cannot move to trade talks until sufficient progress has been made on the Brexit divorce bill, the rights of EU citizens living the UK and the Irish border question .

Theresa May last week agreed a divorce settlement of around £50billion and is close to an agreement on citizens’ rights.

The Irish issue is proving harder to solve. The UK Government is said to have agreed there will be continued “regulatory alignment” between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland.

This would mean, in effect, that Northern Ireland would abide by EU trade and customs rules after Brexit.

But talks between Mrs May and EU president Jean-Claude Juncker failed to end the deadlock yesterday.

Why did the talks fail?

The Prime Minister’s offer on Northern Ireland was too much for the DUP to stomach. A deal with the EU was sunk after Mrs May spoke on the phone to DUP chief Arlene Foster .

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The Prime Minister could walk away without a deal but that would be economically ruinous. Another option is to press ahead with the plans for regulatory alignment in Ireland, but this would smash the DUP pact that gives her a majority in Parliament.

The only solution is to find a fudge acceptable to Dublin and the DUP.

But time is running out. The PM knows that if trade talks are delayed until March several major firms will carry out their threat to move their business out of the UK.

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The Scottish Nationalists are asking why Scotland couldn’t also get special exemption from Brexit.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said a similar deal in the capital would save thousands of jobs. Mrs May also faces a backlash from Tory Brexiteers. She has now caved in on the divorce bill, transition period and access to the European Court of Justice for EU citizens in the UK.